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High School Musical 3 Senior Year
High School Musical 3: Senior Year is a musical film released to cinemas in 2008. It is the third and final installment in the High School Musical Wiki. Its theatrical release in the United States began on October 24, 2008. Kenny Ortega returned as director and choreographer, as did all six primary actors. This latest sequel follows high school seniors Troy and Gabriella as they are faced with the challenging prospect of being separated after graduating from high school. Joined by the rest of their East High Wildcat friends, they stage an elaborate spring musical reflecting their experiences, hopes, and fears about the future. In spite of receiving mixed reviews, in its first three days of release, High School Musical 3: Senior Year grossed $50 million in North America and an additional $40 million overseas, setting a new record for the largest opening weekend for a musical film. The success of High School Musical film series led to Disney Channel Original Movie first spin-off Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure. Plot Team captain Troy rallies the team's spirit ("Now or Never") and they win their last game at East High. Later, at Troy's after-match party at his house, Troy and Gabriella are seen thinking about their future and wishing that their last few months at East High would not end ("Right Here, Right Now"). Sharpay meets Tiara Gold, a British exchange student whom she hires to be her personal assistant. When drama teacher Ms. Darbus notices that there were so few sign-ups for the spring musical, Sharpay suggests she could do a one-woman show. This alarms Kelsi, who is writing the show, so she immediately signs up everyone in their homeroom for it instead. This results in Ms. Darbus announcing they will create a play about their final days at East High, called Senior Year. In addition, she reveals that Sharpay, Ryan, Kelsi, and Troy have all been considered for a scholarship at Juilliard School, but only one of them is to be chosen. Troy is confused, because he did not apply to Juilliard. Sharpay becomes desperate to win the scholarship, and knowing that Kelsi will give the best songs to Troy and Gabriella in the musical, she gets Ryan to try to persuade Kelsi to give them a song, by predicting her (and Ryan's) future ("I Want It All"). The next day, Gabriella and Troy meet on the rooftop and she teaches him how to waltz ("Can I Have This Dance?"). Chad then asks Taylor to go to prom with him with a cheesy pick-up line. She initially refuses, but later agrees when Chad proves he can put in some effort and asks again in front of everyone in the school. The group rehearses for the musical, a scene about their prom night ("A Night to Remember"). The next day Ryan walks in on Kelsi composing in the music room and they start to sing ("Just Wanna Be With You") which leads to Ryan asking Kelsi to prom. While Troy and Chad reminisce about their past ("The Boys Are Back"), Sharpay and Tiara discover that Gabriella has a chance to go to college early to Stanford. Sharpay convinces Troy that he is the only thing keeping Gabriella from her dream. Troy talks to Gabriella about this and after sharing an awkward goodnight, Gabriella sings ("Walk Away") and leaves for college the next day. Troy's dad, Jack, talks to him about his academic future, which he expects will be in the University of Albuquerque. This assumption makes Troy become angry and confused, and he runs away, storming around East High bewildered until he finally screams at the top of his lungs in the theater ("Scream"). Ms. Darbus is secretly watching and reveals that she sent in his application for Juilliard. Troy later gets a call from Gabriella saying that although she loves him, she will not return to Albuquerque. However, on the day of the prom, Troy visits Gabriella at Stanford University and convinces her to return and they share a kiss together during ("Can I Have This Dance? (Reprise)"). Back at East High, Sharpay is prepared for the last musical at East High and Troy's fellow basketball player Jimmie receives a text from Troy to tell him to cover for him onstage because he is going to be late. The Juilliard representatives are there, and watch as the show seems to go well. Kelsi and Ryan start out the show followed by a couple other numbers; Jimmie then performs with Sharpay and embarrasses her, although the audience applauds him. Troy and Gabriella appear during the second half of the show and sing their duet together. Tiara then betrays Sharpay and tells her how she is going to take over next year in the drama department. Sharpay finally learns how it feels to be humiliated, but does not wish to go down. While Tiara performs, Sharpay immediately crashes her performance and upstages her ("Senior Year Spring Musical"). At the end of the musical, Ms. Darbus reveals that both Kelsi and Ryan have won the Juilliard scholarship and tells about everyones future plans ("We're All In This Together (Graduation Mix)") . At the graduation ceremony, Troy gives the class speech. Throwing their caps in the air, the graduates form a giant wildcat before breaking out into song and dance to the tune of ("High School Musical"). As the movie ends, the cast does their famous High School Musical jump with a close up of the six in order before bowing when the curtain falls. Cast * Zac Efron as Troy Bolton * Vanessa Hudgens as Gabriella Montez * Ashley Tisdale as Sharpay Evans * Lucas Grabeel as Ryan Evans * Corbin Bleu as Chad Danforth * Monique Coleman as Taylor McKessie * Olesya Rulin as Kelsi Nielsen * Chris Warren, Jr. as Zeke Baylor * Ryne Sanborn as Jason Cross * Kaycee Stroh as Martha Cox * Alyson Reed as Ms. Darbus * Bart Johnson as Coach Jack Bolton * Jemma McKenzie-Brown as Tiara Gold * Matt Prokop as Jimmie "The Rocket" Zara * Justin Martin as Donnie DiDi Dion * Leslie Wing Pomeroy as Lucille Bolton * Socorro Herrera as Mrs. Montez * Robert Curtis Brown as Vance Evans * Jessica Tuck as Darby Evans * David Reivers as Charlie Danforth * Yolanda Wood as Mrs. Danforth * Joey Miyashima as Principal Matsui * Max Ehrich as Principal Dancer Musical numbers High School Musical 3: Senior Year (soundtrack) Production According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, "...to help lure the production back to where it all began – at Salt Lake City's East High School – the GOED board Friday approved a maximum $2 million incentive for the production, the largest ever given to entice a filmmaker to Utah." Filming began on May 3, 2008. The 41 days scheduled for shooting was a longer period than for the first two films. Stan Carrizosa, the winner of ABC's summer reality show, High School Musical: Get in the Picture appears in a music video "Just Getting Started" that is shown over the end credits of the theatrical release of the film. The show's other 11 finalists were featured in the music video as well. Development Zac Efron was quoted in People Magazine as saying, "I can tell you that if the script is good and if we all agree on a final script, then there's nothing that is going to hold us back from doing it. We have fun making these movies and that's very rare in this business." Rumors persisted of ongoing salary disputes between Disney and the lead performers, particularly Efron. According to Rachel Abramowitz, as reported online by the Chicago Tribune, "an eclectic cross-section of Hollywood insiders think Efron should get a cool $5 million for High School Musical 3, the theatrical version of the franchise, which Disney hoped to make before the Writers Guild strike and Screen Actors Guild strike shut down Hollywood for several months. Efron declined to comment for the article, and although contract negotiations still are ongoing, sources say Efron is being offered a salary closer to $3 million, not $5 million, for the follow-up, which focuses on senior year at East High. Whatever the price, he's still perceived as a steal." Ortega stated that pre-production would most likely start in January 2008. Filming began May 3, 2008, at East High School in Salt Lake City, Utah. He stated that the script had been submitted before the writers' strike started and that they were developing music. He added that filming will happen in Salt Lake City, Utah (as the first two films), hinted that the plot will be something of the nature of the Wildcat's final year in High School and stated, "it looks like we've rounded up the cast." Before filming began, the HSM3 board and cast held a press conference at East High School announcing the start of filming. The film would be released in theaters (in the United States) on October 24, 2008, though the film was to open in several countries including Great Britain at least one week earlier. The film had a $13.3 million dollar budget and a 40-day shooting period. This film was said at the time to be the final installment with the current cast. The London premiere was the biggest London premiere of all time. Vanessa Hudgens photo controversy Despite early speculation that Vanessa Hudgens would be dropped from High School Musical 3 due to her nude photo scandal, The Walt Disney Company denied the reports, saying, "Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment. We hope she's learned a valuable lesson." Reception Critical reception As of December 2010, High School Musical 3: Senior Year has a fresh rating of 65% at Rotten Tomatoes, who gave it a golden tomato for best musical film of 2008, and has been generally well received although overall has been given mixed reviews. The Telegraph praises the changes brought about by the higher budget of a theatrical release: "High School Musical 3 uses its bigger budget to inject colour, scale, and visual depth. The opening basketball game alone is dizzying as the camera swoops high and wide, before a winning point makes the crowd erupt". Stephen Farber, for Reuteres UK, says the film "will please fan base but won't win converts", as the story "never really does kick in" and that "the picture quickly grows tedious",while MSNBC's Alonso Duralde describes it as "a stitched-together Frankenstein monster of an entertainment, featuring major components that were already trotted out the first two times." Peter Johnson describes the film as so bland that it "makes cellophane taste like chicken jalfrezi", and says that "the sheer squeaky-cleanness of everything is creepy, and when the characters are called upon to dance, they do so with robotic efficiency, and sing in that decaffeinated high vibrato, like 21st-century Hollywood castrati." Entertainment Weekly on the other hand was positive toward the film, praising the stars' energy: "the beauty of Efron's performance is that he's a vibrant athletic hoofer who leaps and clowns with the heartthrob vigor of a young Gene Kelly, yet he's also achingly sincere. His fast-break alertness makes him the most empathetic of teen idols; he's like a David Cassidy who knows how to act, and who can swoon without getting too moist about it. Apart from Efron, the breakout star is Ashley Tisdale, whose Sharpay makes narcissism a goofy, bedazzled pleasure."MovieGuide has also favorably reviewed the film, strongly recommending it for the family as "fun, clean and full of energy" and describing it as "thin on plot" yet nevertheless "a phenomenon." The BBC film critic Mark Kermode loved the film and said it was in his top 5 films for the year, and named Tisdale the "Best Supporting Actress" of 2008. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram stated that the latest installment was "critic-proof" and "everything fans could hope for and more." They go on to say that "the kids finally look like true performers rather than Disney Channel mainstays desperately trying to remain relevant, and they deserve the lucrative careers that lie ahead" and gave the film a rating of four out of five stars. The film was also well received in the UK. Hudgens was recognized as Favorite Movie Actress at Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards, Efron was voted Best Male Performance at the 2009 MTV awards and Choice Actor: Music/Dance at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards and Tisdale was voted Breakthrough Performance Female at the 2009 MTV Movie awards and Best Supporting Actress at the 2009 UK Kermode Awards. Box office The film opened $16 million on Friday for the biggest opening day for a musical film of all-time, which made at #1 (beating out Saw V in box office earnings) with an opening weekend of over $42,030,184 in the United States and breaking the record, previously held by Mamma Mia!, for the biggest opening ever for a movie musical. The film also opened at #1 overseas, with an international opening of $40,000,000. High School Musical 3: Senior Year made $90,559,416 in domestic and $162,349,761 in other territories leading up for a total of $252,909,177 worldwide, which was above even Disney's expectations. Awards and nominations ;2009 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Awards *Feature Film category, 2009 BAFTA Kids' Awards. ;2009 Kids' Choice Awards * Favorite Movie (WON) * Favorite Actress - Vanessa Hudgens (WON) UK Kermode Awards 2009 * Best Supporting Actress - Ashley Tisdale (WON) ;2009 MTV Movie Awards * Best Male Performance - Zac Efron (WON) * Breakthrough Performance Female - Ashley Tisdale (WON) * Best Movie (Nominated) * Breakthrough Performance Female Vanessa Hudgens (Nominated) * Best Kiss - Vanessa Hudgens & Zac Efron (Nominated) ;Teen Choice Awards 2009 * Choice Actor Music/Dance - Zac Efron (WON) * Choice Movie Music/Dance (WON) * Choice Actress Music/Dance - Vanessa Hudgens (Nominated) * Choice Actress Music/Dance - Ashley Tisdale (Nominated) * Choice Movie Liplock - Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens (WON) Other releases Sing-along version On November 7, 2008, High School Musical 3: Senior Year: The Sing-Along Edition with lyrics highlighted on the screen was released in selected theaters. Home release High School Musical 3: Senior Year was released in Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray on February 17, 2009, in Region 2 DVD on February 16, 2009 and in Region 3 DVD on February 24, 2009.The DVD was released in single- and two-disc editions. In Region 2 the single-disc edition DVD featured most of the two-disc edition bonus features such as bloopers, deleted scenes, extended version of the film, sing-along and cast goodbyes. In Region 3, only the single-disc edition DVD was released with all of the two-disc bonus features as well the extended edition of the film. In the Philippines, it was released on February 25, 2009. The Region 4 DVD was released on April 8, 2009. As of November 1, 2009 the DVD has sold a over 11,000,000 copies and generated over $200 million in sales revenue. Broadcasting The movie premiered on Disney Channel before the series premiere of Good Luck Charlie. The premiere on Disney Channel US brought 4 million viewers. International release It premiered on Disney Channel India on 18 October 2009 and on 5 December in Disney Channel Asia. On 4 December, for one night only, it premiered on Disney Cinemagic, and it will premiere on Disney Channel (UK & Ireland) in January/February 2010. It premiered on the 12th of December on Disney Channel New Zealand/Australia. India release Disney Channel India was the first to telecast HSM3 officially. It was originally telecasted on 18 October as a part of Club HSM, but did not gain too much popularity. It was again telecasted on January 1 as a part Fully Funny First Day. It was again telecasted on 14 February as a part of Pyaar Ke after effects. Spin-off Sharpay Evans Ashley Tisdale will be on an adventure trying to get to a Broadway show, titled Sharpay's Fabulous Adventure, Ryan Evans Lucas Grabeel, was to have thought to be travelling with her but will not and will only see her off at the start. The movie is set for a Summer 2011 release and will be set after High School Musical 3. References External links * DVD Review, DVD Talk * DVD High School Musical 3